Growing up

It's been a while since I have updated and I have only taken a few photos of Leo this month.....blame it on my new job. I started a seasonal position at William Sonoma and have had a great time, but as a family, we are still adjusting to the change. Leo is more clingy the mornings after I have worked, which means I get more hugs. Although he misses me when I am at work, Leo has been enjoying bonding with Joe and is becoming much more independent. It is easy to put him to bed and he usually tells us when he is ready for bed by saying "night, night."

Speaking of hugs, Leo is much more generous with hugs now. He will often ask for "big hugs," which Joe taught him. It is basically a hug in which we squeeze him really tight. He also loves our family "group hugs." With group hugs, we all hug simultaneously and say "group hug, group hug, group hug," squeezing a little harder with each chant. I know this sounds unbelievably corny, but these are some of my favorite moments in life.

Leo is constantly surprising us with new words. Last night he threw a ball and said catch. He also combines words on a regular basis. while we were at Target, he saw a Christmas tree made up of nothing but ball ornaments and he said, "ball Christmas tree." He is starting to know the names of different Thomas trains such as James, Duncan, Gordon, Harvey and Percy.

Joe had a birthday last week and unfortunately I had to work at night. While I was at work, Tiff and Martin stopped by and brought Joe/Leo a gift of Nerf balls. Ever since then, Leo has been in love with them and constantly says "Martin, Tiffy, balls." We are still working on the Aunt and uncle bit.

As you can see by the photo, Leo loves building /stacking things and then making them crash. Also, a favorite game of his is to collect all of his books and put them in the laundry basket.